In 2008, I took the Celta course, at Teaching House New York, and a decade later, after all sorts of teaching and teacher training experience, became a Celta tutor myself. I’ve worked with around 80 trainees on four courses so far. Candidates often ask how they can get a Pass A or Pass B. I … More How to Succeed on the Celta
As a Celta tutor, I have to give demo lessons twice every course. This was the second demo lesson with my lovely beginner group. They really needed an opportunity to review the language they had already learned, rather than moving on to a new topic, and I also wanted to model ways of using short … More The Polish Grandpa – an A1 lesson plan
I spent the first weekend of October in lovely Athens at The Image Conference, which was organised by the Visual Arts Circle. I found out about this group at IATEFL in Glasgow last year and as a teacher who loves to use art, pictures and short films in my lessons, was very interested in finding … More The Wonderful World of The Image Conference
The following is based on my experiences working in language schools, private and state universities, summer schools and middle schools, giving private lessons, and visiting all sorts of teaching institutes all over Turkey. All types of workplaces will have positives and negatives, these are just some things to look out for. I hope this post … More The Truth about Teaching in Turkey
Here in Turkey, there are just a few weeks left until schools break up for the summer. On top of that, it’s Ramadan, so some teachers and students are fasting. It’s a difficult time of the year in schools – the students are unmotivated and teachers are tired. It may be tempting to put a … More End of Semester Activities
I originally posted this last year, so thought I’d share it again as it’s the end of December, with a few updates and added links. The lesson plan below applies to the words of the year from 2016, so if you want to keep it current, you’ll need to substitute the words from 2017 – … More Words of the Year – updated lesson plan for 2017.
Fancy winning a free trip to Chicago or Brighton? Or how about a place on a professional development course? There are quite a few competitions around at the moment for English teachers and their students. Taking part can help with motivation and if you or your students win, there are some great prizes (or at … More ELT Competitions
